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What to watch: Waiting to cheer a Dow milestone

Adam Shell, USA TODAY
8:44 p.m. EST February 14, 2013

Trader Michael Liloia, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Stocks are rising in early trading on Wall Street after the government reported that the U.S. jobless rate fell below 8% for the first time in almost four years.(Photo: Richard Drew, AP)

NEW YORK -- Remember the 10,000 rally caps on the Dow Jones industrial average? And super-sized celebrations on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange when the iconic blue-chip stock index closed above that five-digit milestone for the first time on March 29, 1999? The go-go '90s were akin to the Roaring Twenties.

The 2010s aren't so shabby either, especially when it comes to stock market returns. And Wall Street has already ordered the champagne as the Dow continues to flirt with closing at a new all-time high.

It's been a cat-and-mouse waiting game since the countdown started on Feb. 1. The benchmark 30-stock index closed above the 14,000 mark for the first time since October 2007, which just happens to be the same month the Dow hit its current record close of 14,164.53.

If anyone needs something to cheer, it is stock investors. They're still suffering from a form of post-traumatic syndrome following the Dow's 7,617-point plunge during the 2007-09 bear market.

What could be more psychologically soothing than seeing the stock market stabilize, tail risks diminish and a growing feeling that the floor isn't going to give way under the rising weight of bullish investors?

The countdown is officially on. The Dow closed down 10 points Thursday at 13,973, just 191 points shy of its record.

A new high is not likely to convince all the skeptics that the market's dark period is over. But at least it is likely to provide good cheer to anyone with a 401(k).